Abstract

Initial investigation of Moxtek wire grid polarizers composed of Al and coated with SiO2 - SiX - SiO2 (where SiX is used to indicate a Si rich layer whose complete composition is not to be disclosed for proprietary reasons) showed a growth of 3x in the inner (closest to Al) SiO2 layer after baking. Upon removing the X and varying rib composition and layering composition and geometries in 12 sets of before and after samples, no obvious growth was observed. Even baking the original unbaked sample yielded no growth. Our data suggest that the initial conclusion of buried oxide growth was flawed and that the observed changes in optical properties upon baking are either very sensitive to layer thicknesses (smaller than we can confidently observe) or due to some other mechanism. Here we present our sample preparation and analysis using the Focused Ion Beam (FIB), Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM), and Energy Dispersive Xray Spectroscopy (EDXS).

Degree

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Physics and Astronomy

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